DW Freedom of Speech Award 2023: DW honors investigative journalist Óscar Martínez from El Salvador

Óscar Martínez, investigative journalist and editor-in-chief of the online platform El Faro in El Salvador, is the recipient of the Freedom of Speech Award 2023. DW is conferring the award for the ninth time.  

Openly critical of the government, the digital magazine El Faro is known throughout Latin America for its investigative research into organized crime and its links to politics.  

On presenting the award to Martínez, DW Director General Peter Limbourg said: "Central America is experiencing a new wave of authoritarianism - and with it comes increasingly limited press freedom. Never before have the media in El Salvador been more tightly controlled. Óscar Martínez and the editorial staff of El Faro are courageously standing up to the enormous pressure that journalists in El Salvador, as well as in other Central American countries, face in their work. They look behind the machinations of autocratic governments and organized crime, and inform the people of the region at great personal risk." 

Martínez researches pressing topics. He has reported on state corruption and extrajudicial killings by the police. El Faro uncovered the negotiations of President Bukele's government with the criminal organization MS-13 (Mara Salvatrucha), which is active in North and Central America, exposing government collusion with the organization on sentence mitigation, changes in jurisdiction, and evasion of U.S. extradition requests. These findings were confirmed by the indictment of members of the MS-13 organization in a U.S. court.

Óscar Martínez dedicates the Freedom of Speech Award to all Central American journalists who refuse to give up on bringing the truth to light: "I believe that Central American journalists must continue to reveal [the truth]. There is much that the powerful want to hide. Journalists have to reveal the dark corners of power and its control mechanisms. This is even more indispensable now that Central America is experiencing a new wave of authoritarianism. We have to counter all the propaganda and disinformation from governments with accurate information." 

In recent years, Martínez and his colleagues at El Faro have been increasingly pressured, spied on and hampered in their work by the Bukele government. For security reasons, part of the digital publication recently moved to Costa Rica. Martínez also had to leave the country at short notice in the past due to death threats.

DW Freedom of Speech Award

DW provides independent news and information in 32 languages around the world, enabling people to make free choices. In addition to promoting democratic values and human rights, DW is particularly committed to freedom of speech and freedom of the press. In order to reach people even in censored countries with restrictive media coverage, DW increasingly uses censorship circumvention measures. 

Since 2015, DW has presented the Freedom of Speech Award to draw attention to restricted press freedom in many regions and to honor the outstanding work of journalists worldwide. Past winners of the award include Nigerian investigative journalist Tobore Ovuorie (2021) and Ukrainian war reporters Mstyslav Chernov and Evgeniy Maloletka (2022).

Award ceremony at the DW Global Media Forum 2023

The Freedom of Speech Award will be presented to Óscar Martínez at the Global Media Forum, DW's international media conference. Under this year's motto "Overcoming Divisions," international experts from the media and politics will exchange views with participants on the pressing issues of our time on June 19 and 20, 2023.